Apple kicks iStuff-sniffer out of App Store

Apple has banned an app that allows fanbois to work out which stores have stocks of the latest iPads and iPhones.

In a seemingly self-defeating move, the fruity firm wrote to Apple Tracker developer Mordy Tikotzky to say his app was no longer welcome in Apple world.

He immediately removed the app, which collected publicly available inventory info from Apple, and posted the following statement on his website:

I've decided to turn off the site. I'm not doing this because I want to, but rather because I received a DMCA takedown notice from Apple.

I'm not really interested in picking a fight with apple so I guess it's time to just say good bye.

Before I go though I just wanted to says thanks to all of you for the nice comments and emails that you've sent in the last few weeks. It was fun while it lasted.

However, it may be pertinent to say that Apple did not actually invoke the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in its letter, which it merely called a "takedown notice".

Apple alleged in the note that the app had violated its terms of use by scraping information from the tech titan's website.

In a letter to Tikotzky, Apple quoted a section of its own ToU, stating:

You may not use any “deep-link”, “page-scrape”, “robot”, “spider” or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Site or any Content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or any Content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through the Site. Apple reserves the right to bar any such activity.

If you wish to check stock availability in American Apple stores, you can always look on the firm's website. ®